The present invention relates to hydraulic systems. More particularly, the present invention relates to position, velocity, and acceleration measurement of a hydraulic actuator piston of a hydraulic system based upon a differential pressure measurement.
Hydraulic systems are used in a wide variety of industries ranging from road construction to processing plants. These systems are generally formed of hydraulic valves and hydraulic actuators. Typical hydraulic actuators include a hydraulic cylinder containing a piston and a rod that is attached to the piston at one end and to an object at the other end. The hydraulic valves direct hydraulic fluid flows into and out of the hydraulic actuators to cause a change in the position of the piston within the hydraulic cylinder and produce a desired actuation of the object. For many applications, it would be useful to know the position, velocity, and/or acceleration of the piston. By these variables, a control system could control the location or orientation, velocity and acceleration of the objects being actuated by the hydraulic actuators. For example, a blade of a road grading machine could be repeatedly positioned as desired resulting in more precise grading.
One technique of determining the piston position is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,588,953 which correlates resonances of electromagnetic waves in a cavity, formed between a closed end of the hydraulic cylinder and the piston, with the position of the piston within the hydraulic cylinder. Other techniques use sensors positioned within the hydraulic cylinder to sense the position of the piston. Still other techniques involve attaching a cord carried on a spool to the piston where the rotation of the spool relates to piston position.
There is an on-going need for methods and devices which are capable of achieving accurate, repeatable, and reliable hydraulic actuator piston position measurement. Furthermore, it would be desirable for these methods and devices to measure the velocity and acceleration of the hydraulic actuator piston.